By: Fred Chukwuelobe
A survey is ongoing as to whether we should return to the Saturday monthly environment day introduced by the Lagos State government, but which was abolished by the courts.
Majority of Lagosians, who obviously were disappointed in the immediate past administration’s handling of refuse collection and disposal, are voting for the return of the 7 – 10am monthly Saturday environmental day which comes up on the last Saturday of every month.
It’s not debatable, Ambode failed woefully in that regard. Under him Lagos was filthy, more filthy than it has ever been.
Today many drainages are blocked with flood water settling on the roads and damaging them. The result is worsening of the perennial traffic gridlock and damage to vehicles.
As you vote, may I ask, do we need a 7 – 10 am monthly exercise to keep our surroundings clean? I thought cleanliness should be an every minute affair?
What is needed is an evacuation strategy that ensures refuse collected is taken away to dump sites. And a discipline to put refuse in their proper places – proper disposal and evacuation of refuse.
Silt cleared from drains are left to go back into the drain. The one on Jubilee bridge, Ajah, has not been cleared for years now. People dump refuse on top of it. Do we need a vote to decide if the mountain of silt should be cleared? Certainly not!
A monthly exercise won’t solve the refuse crisis in Lagos. We don’t enforce laws. We don’t obey laws. We are all “connected” one way or another. So once we are arrested we make calls and get freed to continue to commit the offence.
We offer and receive bribes. Officials assigned to enforce laws see that as opportunities to make money. They arrest, collect money and free the offender. So enforcement becomes difficult. And indiscipline abound.
Local governments don’t clear silt evacuated from the drainages. The go back into the drainages until the next environmental day, that is aside from dirtying the roads and our shoes and our vehicles.
Let’s face it, until we enforce laws and punish offenders, a daily environmental exercise won’t change the filth that Lagos has become.
The monthly environmental day is a waste of time, waste of productivity. The economy suffers and people lose income.
It is retrogressive. We should be moving forward and not backwards.
This is the way I see it.